Текст книги "Sweet the Sin "
Автор книги: Claire Kent
сообщить о нарушении
Текущая страница: 16 (всего у книги 17 страниц)
Interlude
Caleb had Kelly propped up on a wide window ledge in a back hall of a historic house that was used now for upscale banquets and parties. He was holding one of her legs up, her thigh hooked over his forearm, and he was fucking her fast and rough.
She was about to come hard, and she had to bite her lip to keep from making any sounds as the pleasure built up in a tight coil.
“That’s right. I can feel how tight you’re getting. You know you like it hard this way.” He sounded hoarse the way he did when he was really into it.
She stifled a helpless sound as her pussy squeezed around his cock in response to the erotic words. She was clutching his neck and shoulders, desperately trying to hold on in her precarious position.
“Tell me how much you like it,” he demanded, spreading her open even wider and bracing himself with his other arm.
“I like it hard. So much.” She had to lean forward and bite into his shoulder, over the jacket, of his tuxedo to channel the powerful sensations.
“You like that someone might catch us?” His words were choppy and breathless from his effort, but still impressively controlled. “You want someone to see us like this. All those stuffy people at the party. You want them to know how well I can fuck you. It really turns you on. Doesn’t it?”
She made a little whimper of sound, waves of heat and cold washing over her.
“Tell me.”
“Yeah,” she gasped. “It turns me on.”
“Oh, fuck, you’re going to come so hard. Come now, Kelly, blossom. Come now.”
She came at his words, her pleasure uncoiling in spasms of pleasure that made her whole body shake. She hid her face to smother the sounds, and she held on to him as she heard him grunt a few times before the tension in his body released in a hot rush.
“Oh, God,” she was gasping as their bodies started to relax together. “Oh, God.”
As he came down, he pulled her more tightly into his arms, so she was wrapped fully in his embrace. She could feel the emotion in his grip, as powerful as the desire she’d felt before.
She returned it. She couldn’t help it. There was no going back for her now. She was on this road, and she had to see it through—no matter what the consequences.
He was pressing little kisses against her face before he found her lips softly. Her mouth clung to his needily.
He might not be guilty, she reminded herself. It could be that circumstances had lined up to cast a shadow over him, but the shadow might not be based in reality.
He was cool and controlling and sometimes heartless. He was ruthlessly ambitious, and his ethics were dubious. But there was so much more in him than that. There was a softness to his soul that he never let anyone see.
But she had seen it. He might not be guilty.
“We better get back,” he said, with one last stroke of her hair.
“Yeah.” When he took a step back, she straightened up, pushing down the skirt of her evening dress. It was wrinkled now. No hope for it.
When she took a step, she winced at the soreness—mostly her thigh being stretched so far for so long. He reached out to wrap an arm around her, supporting her weight with his strength.
“Thanks,” she said, with a breathy laugh. “I’m okay. It was worth it.”
He might have killed her father. She just didn’t know. And, until she knew, she had to live torn apart like this, surrendering her body and heart without ever surrendering her will.
She was going to find the answers. She was going to see this through. She already had an idea for getting some of the information she needed.
“Do you have any idea how crazy I am about you?” he murmured, leaning down to kiss her again.
She did know—a truth that made everything worse.
She was under no delusions in this. One day, he would find out about her. If he wasn’t guilty, he would never forgive her. If he was, then he might kill her.
But this was the road she was on.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, looking concerned when she couldn’t quite pull out of her brooding. “Was I too rough?”
She smiled, shook her head, and told him the truth. “Of course not. I know what I’m in for, when it comes to you.”
About the Author
CLAIRE KENT has been writing romance novels since she was twelve years old. She has a PhD in British literature and, when she’s not writing, teaches English at the university level. She also writes contemporary romance under the pen name Noelle Adams.
You can email her at [email protected] and find her online at:
clairekent.com
Facebook.com/NoelleAdamsAuthor
@NoelleAdams3
The Editor’s Corner
July is the month for sizzling romance and Loveswept has all the books for your reading needs right here.
In New York Times bestselling author Marquita Valentine’s Take the Fall, the first spin-off novel from her successful Boys of the South series, passions run hot as a rugged, brooding marine rekindles an old flame. Elisabeth Barrett begins a heartfelt new Briarwood series with a tale of forbidden love, broken promises, and second chances in Once and Again. Club Sin returns in Commanded, a decadent new romance from USA Today bestselling author Stacey Kennedy. Next, USA Today bestselling author Claire Kent’s deeply sensual story of love, lust, and deception, Sweet the Sin, where a woman searching for the truth discovers that she’s sleeping with the enemy. Another USA Today bestselling author, Serena Bell teases all five senses in Turn Up the Heat, a poignant, tantalizing novel of fantasies long hidden…and finally indulged.
The heat is on in Cassie Ryan’s story of temptation and total surrender, My Obsession—a powerful master gives his dream girl a new beginning in the dungeons of decadent ecstasy. Violetta Rand’s explosive new Lies & Leather series kicks off with a red-hot motorcycle racer who rides hard and plays for keeps in Loving Lucas. And New York Times bestselling author Tracy Wolff poses the question: Do nice guys always finish last? In the new Extreme Risk novel, Slashed, a burned-out underdog and a vulnerable tomboy defy the pressure to be perfect and go after what they really want.
If you adore billionaire romances that are blistering hot, don’t miss Tracy’s Play Me series, now available as one book!
My, it’s hot in here. And it won’t cool down for August—just wait until you see what we have in store!
Until then,
Happy Romance!
Gina Wachtel
Associate Publisher
USA Today bestselling author Claire Kent continues her emotionally charged story of longing, betrayal, and insatiable desire as Kelly Watson and Caleb Marshall find themselves in a deadly standoff of seduction. Darker the Release Coming soon from
Loveswept
Continue reading for a sneak peek
Chapter 1
Kelly Watson was getting annoyed because Caleb wouldn’t hang up the phone.
She’d come over to his big estate outside DC for the weekend. She wasn’t living with him all the time anymore—the way she had in the beginning—but she’d spent the last three weekends with him. Now, it was Friday at almost seven in the evening, and he was still on a work call.
He also was wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.
Caleb Marshall was the CEO of Vendella and Co., a high-powered pharmaceutical company. He didn’t have the luxury of only working on weekdays. She didn’t expect him not to work—or not to take calls on any day or at any hour they came in.
But still, they were scheduled to leave for a black-tie event in ten minutes. The cocktail party was his thing—since she was a pet portrait artist and wasn’t in the habit of attending formal events of any kind. It was because of him that she was going to this party at all. She’d gotten out of the shower, dried her hair, and done her makeup in the bathroom, and she’d expected him to be dressed when she reentered his bedroom.
But he was sitting in a leather chair near the window, talking on the phone, naked except for the towel.
And he didn’t even appear aware of her presence.
It worried her.
They were supposed to be in a real relationship. They’d never said the words “I love you.” Given both of their pasts as commitment-phobes, that would be far beyond the comfort zone for either of them. But they’d admitted that the feelings between them were real, and they’d agreed to try to make the relationship work.
He was supposed to care about her, be totally into her, feel for her more than he’d ever felt for anyone else. That was what he’d said, at least.
Which was why it was concerning that he didn’t notice that she’d walked into the bedroom wearing nothing but her underwear. He hadn’t even glanced over at her.
Caleb wasn’t just her boyfriend. He might have killed her father. And the only way she could ever find out the truth was to get him to trust her completely, let down his guard, allow her access to the information she needed, find concrete evidence about who arranged her father’s murder. And she only had a limited amount of time to accomplish all this in the month or so her mother had left to live.
If Caleb was losing his interest in her, if she wasn’t as attractive to him as she used to be, then she could never do what she needed to do.
So she felt distracted and out of sorts as she walked over to the dresser and looked in the mirror.
Her makeup was good—setting off her blue eyes, high cheekbones, fair skin, and full lips—and her long dark gold hair was pulled up into an elegant twist. Her bra and panties were a sexy black lace—much more expensive than she’d ever bought for herself before she’d met Caleb.
In the past, she’d only ever had one-night stands. There was no man in the world whom she’d known as deeply and intimately as Caleb. No man who could turn her on as much. No man she’d invested nearly as much in as him.
No man she’d hated as much.
It was the bitter irony of her life—to live torn apart like this until she could finally find the truth, finally find closure, finally heal. If such a thing was even possible.
But all of it would be futile if he was starting to lose interest.
He was talking about some sort of marketing campaign on the phone. She heard the words, but they were of no interest. It didn’t sound like an emergency, though, so it was definitely time for him to hang up the phone.
With that same flutter of anxiety and uncertainty, she grabbed a tube of lotion from the bag she’d brought over for the weekend and squeezed some out on her palm.
Then she walked over so she was directly in Caleb’s line of sight, sat down on the edge of the bed, and started to rub the lotion into one of her legs.
Her body was pretty decent, with long legs and good breasts. Caleb had always seemed to really like it before. Might as well use it to her advantage.
She massaged the lotion in slowly, extending her leg in a way she hoped was sexy.
With a clench of pleased satisfaction, she noticed from the corner of her eye that Caleb’s eyes had shifted over to her.
He was still talking, but at least now he was watching her.
She took her time with rubbing the lotion on her other leg as well, and then she stood up and started applying it to her arms and shoulders in turn.
He was definitely focused on her now. His brown eyes had taken on a familiar heat—albeit still distracted by his conversation—and his gaze didn’t leave her body.
Making sure to act unaware, she walked over to the closet to get a dress. She’d brought two possibilities with her for this evening, since she hadn’t been sure which she should wear. Inspired, she grabbed the one she’d already decided against.
She returned to his line of sight to slowly, sensually pull the dress on, letting the soft fabric cling to her body.
It was a blue that matched her eyes, and she studied herself in the mirror, turning around and pretending to be evaluating the effect. She slipped on her high heels and looked at herself again.
Then she unzipped it and let it fall slowly to the floor so she was standing in nothing but her underwear and heels.
Caleb stumbled over something he was saying.
Acting as though she wasn’t paying any attention to him and hiding her flush of pleasure at this clear evidence that he was so affected by her, she walked back to the closet to get her other dress.
This one was a deep red—a sleeveless column dress with well-tailored ruches and a slit on one side that came all the way up her thigh.
Caleb wasn’t talking much anymore—just occasionally saying “yeah.” She didn’t dare to look over at him fully, because he would suspect what she was trying to do.
But the brief glances she snuck proved that his body had grown tense and his skin was slightly flushed.
He was turned on. No doubt about it. It gave her a rush of pleasure and relief—and also a pride that left her a little uncomfortable.
She was so focused on looking sexy as she tried to zip up her dress that she was at a loss when the zipper snagged on the fabric.
She tugged on it gently, and then frowned, wondering how she was supposed to get it unsnagged and still look sexy.
She gasped and gave a little jump when she felt a hand over hers on the zipper.
Caleb had gotten up and moved behind her while she was distracted.
“Stuck?” he asked, his voice thick and textured the way it always was when he was turned on.
He was standing behind her, and his eyes were moving with a hungry heat from her face down her body in the mirror over the dresser.
“Try not to tear it,” she said, as he focused back down on her zipper. “This dress was expensive.”
“It was well worth the money.”
With a little work, he freed the zipper and pulled it all the way up.
“Did you finish with your call?” she asked, glancing back to where he’d left his phone on the table next to the chair.
“You made sure of that, didn’t you?”
She made her eyes wide and innocent. “What do you mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean. You think I’m so easy that I’ll be manipulated by the sexy little show you just gave me.”
She glanced over her shoulder and down at his groin, where he was visibly aroused beneath the towel. She just cleared her throat, trying to hide a smile.
“That’s only a victory,” Caleb said, “if a man is led around by his dick.”
“And you’re not?”
“What do you think?”
She met his eyes in the mirror, and she felt the strangest twisting of fear, pleasure, and possession at what she saw in his expression.
“I think I told you on the first day we met that, by the time I was through with you, all your unrelenting alpha-maleness would be broken. I think I’m off to a good start.” She made sure her expression was teasing, almost taunting. They’d done this verbal dance from the beginning, and it was sometimes as exciting to her as his touch.
She had to be so careful, though, not to surrender completely to her feelings for him. She’d loved her father too much to sacrifice justice for him that way.
“Is that what you think?” As Caleb spoke, he pulled the zipper of her dress back down.
She glanced over at the clock. “We’re supposed to leave in five minutes.”
“Then I’ll have to prove my point quickly.”
Her breath was already quickening as he slowly slid her dress back down to the floor, leaving her again wearing nothing but her heels and underwear. “What point?”
“That there’s nothing broken about me.”
She reached behind her to caress his hard cock through the towel, pleased when he gave a soft grunt. “It feels like you’re not going to hold out very long in this little show of strength you’re putting on.”
He took her wrist and pulled her hand away, planting it on the dresser. “Was that a challenge?”
“I know how you feel about those.” She gave him a teasing smile in the mirror.
She did know how he responded to a challenge—the same way she always had. She’d never met another man who could match her will, in bed or out of it. She could see the defiance smoldering in his eyes right now, and it triggered a matching reaction in her.
He might not know the real battle that would always be waged between them—the clash of mighty opposites, as Shakespeare had put it—but these smaller duels had always shaped their relationship.
So she was ready for him when he stepped forward, pressing his body into hers from behind and kissing the side of her neck.
Instinctively, she leaned back into him, and she sighed with pleasure as his hands stroked up and down her mostly naked body. Her eyelids lowered involuntarily, but she could see in the mirror through her mostly closed eyes as Caleb skillfully worked over her body with his hands.
She stifled a gasp as he fondled her nipples through the lace of her bra, and she arched her spine instinctively as the pleasure started to build.
She still felt in control, though. She wasn’t yet in danger of losing this challenge.
He caressed her skillfully in silence, both of them watching him in the mirror, and Kelly could see her cheeks redden and her nipples growing visibly tight with her arousal.
Then he tilted his head and said against her ear, the vibrations of his husky voice making her shudder, “Your pussy is wet.”
It was true. Her pussy was wet. And hot. And aching. And her whole body was now flushed with heat.
But she wasn’t about to lose a challenge so easily. “And you’re still hard. That doesn’t mean anything. You’re going to have to work a lot harder than that if you want to win this little game.”
“I’ve only just started.” His voice had grown softer, although that same primal heat was evident in his eyes. His hand dropped down to the curve of her breast and, using his knuckles again, he flicked one of her nipples—which were jutting out prominently through the fabric of her bra. “I can see how much you want me now. You’re dying for me to fuck you.”
The light fondling of her nipple generated tugs of desire so sharp that Kelly had to bite her lip to keep from whimpering in response. Unconsciously, she arched her spine, causing her breasts to jut out even more. “I could say the same about you,” she managed to say. There wasn’t any sense in denying his words, though. Her body’s responses had already betrayed her.
Caleb had been watching her closely, registering every detail about her reactions and expression. “Do you want to watch yourself?”
He’d adjusted his hand so he was cupping one of her breasts, and she couldn’t help shifting to press her chest against his palm more fully. “I think you’re the one with that kind of ego.”
It didn’t come out quite as clever as she’d intended, but it was the best she could do, now that Caleb had started rubbing her nipple with the heel of his hand.
“You can complain about my ego all you want, but you like it.” His hand slid down until it was cupping one side of her ass. “Don’t you?”
He was right. Of course he was right. His absolute arrogance and entitlement might be obnoxious, but it also drew her in, thrilled her, posed the deepest sort of challenge.
Caleb could obviously see the confirmation on her face. He leaned forward, mouthing a spot just below her jaw. “Fuck, Kelly,” he murmured against her skin. “You’re so hot. And even hotter because you look so innocent.”
She had a rosy, heart-shaped face that gave the impression of youth and innocence. There was nothing she could do about it, but Caleb knew by now her appearance was a lie.
There wasn’t anything innocent about her.
If he knew why she was really with him, he would know this truth even more deeply.
He didn’t know, though. Not yet. He only knew the Kelly she’d revealed to him, and that was only part of who she was.
Two of his fingers slipped under her panties and stroked her intimately, parting the soft folds of flesh and feeling her hot, wet arousal.
“I knew your pussy was wet,” Caleb murmured, sliding a finger inside her and stroking her inner walls.
His words shouldn’t have been as hot as they were, but her muscles clenched around the penetration of his finger, and she let out a thick gasp of pleasure.
When he joined the first finger with a second, the fuller feeling made Kelly jerk her hips involuntarily, the pressure at her center pushing her forward into shameless urgency.
“You like that, don’t you?” He used his other hand to hold one of her thighs apart as he fucked her with his fingers.
Biting her lower lip hard, Kelly tried not to give him any sort of answer.
“It’s not going to take long,” Caleb murmured in that same sultry voice. “You’re almost there already.”
The pleasure was building so quickly she had to hang on to the dresser in front of her. “Oh God!”
The loud cry escaped her lips without her conscious intention, and she burned in both lust and slight embarrassment, since she hadn’t held strong as much as she’d wanted.
“That’s right,” Caleb said in raspy encouragement. “Let go.”
He pitched his hips forward, allowing her to feel the hardness of his arousal against her ass. “Just say the word, and I’ll make you come—over and over again.”
She whimpered helplessly, overwhelmed with so much hunger and heat that she was afraid she might literally melt. Then she remembered the challenge and made herself answer, “As long as we both acknowledge that you’re cheating.”
“How am I cheating?”
“I turned you on without touching you, and you’ve got your hands all over me. So it hasn’t been a fair fight.” She met his eyes in the mirror, feeling a kind of connection that went far beyond physical touch.
There was pleasure in knowing her mind was a match for his, as much as in how good he made her body feel.
Something changed on his face as he acknowledged the words. Then he stepped back, causing her body to tense in disappointment. He was still watching her face in the mirror.
“Giving up?” she asked, smiling at him in the mirror, even as her skin felt chilled from where his hands had just been.
He gave her a feral smile. “You know me better than that.”
He moved forward, his warm chest pressing into her back and his erection rocking slowly against her. For a moment, he surrounded her—his heat and strength impossible to escape. But then he slowly eased back until he wasn’t touching her at all. “We’re going to make this an even challenge. So, if you want to be touched, you’ll have to touch yourself.”
Her whole body clenched with a strong pulse of lust, but she gave a little huff of amusement. “I’m pretty sure I can resist.”
“Not for long.” His eyes were crawling over her body in the mirror again, as warm and lingering as a caress. “Remember when I had you bent over the desk in my office.”
Her body tightened again at the memory. “Of course I remember. That was more of your ego.”
“I had you bound, just by the sound of my voice. You wouldn’t move until I told you. That’s how much you wanted to surrender control to me.”
Her pussy was throbbing so deeply it actually hurt. Her cheeks were flushed hot, and she could see her breasts rising and falling with her fast breaths. “But you couldn’t hold out that day either. You released me prematurely, if I recall correctly.”
“Remember when I turned you over the table for a spanking,” Caleb murmured thickly, his eyes hot and dominant the way they’d been that other day. “Your tight little ass was aching for more. I know how much you wanted it. My fingers were in your pussy, so I could feel how wet you were and how hard you squeezed around me every time you felt my hand.”
Her breath hitched and she clenched her fingers around the edge of the dresser. She was so turned on, just from the sound of his voice and the memories, that she was trembling now.
“You couldn’t even wait for my cock. You were so eager you came all around my fingers as I spanked you. Your body knew exactly what it needed, even as you tried to hold out then. Just like your body knows what it needs right now. Doesn’t it?”
She closed her eyes, making one final effort to shut out his voice and hold on to her resistance.
“Open your eyes,” he murmured behind her.
She did.
“Let your hair down for me.”
She’d twisted it up in a formal updo for the party, but she reached up and pulled out the clip. The hair fell in long waves down her back and around her shoulders, and she saw the awe awaken in Caleb’s eyes as he saw it.
He’d always responded that way to her unbound hair.
“Now you can touch yourself.” His voice rasped, clear evidence that he was deeply aroused.
But she was like a lit fuse, and there was no way she could hold herself back from reaching down beneath her legs.
“Not yet,” Caleb said. “Touch your breasts first.”
With a little moan, she made herself raise her hands to cup her breasts. She chafed her nipples through her bra and sighed at the resulting sensations. Her head fell back, and her pussy clenched hard around nothing. But Caleb was reacting too. She saw his body give a little twitch in the mirror as he watched her.
“Very good. Tell me how it feels.”
“Good,” she gasped, tweaking her nipples. “But not nearly enough.”
“Then you can rub your pussy too. But if you come, then I win.” He was smiling, but his expression was very tense.
She slid one hand down and rubbed her clit through her panties, and she couldn’t hold back a groan of pleasure at the relieving sensations.
“You’re so close to coming, aren’t you?”
She was. She was so close she could feel the pressure of the orgasm threatening to overwhelm her. She managed to hold it back, though. “And you’re just about to lose it.”
“You first.” He smiled again. Then in a gruff voice, he said, “Bend over. Show me your ass. But don’t stop rubbing yourself.”
She did as he said, bending down over the dresser, bracing herself with one arm and rubbing herself with the other. The position exposed most of her bottom, barely covered by her little panties. She felt vulnerable and slightly embarrassed by her shameless eagerness and so turned on she was making little whimpers.
She closed her eyes, trying to shut out the sexy sight of him standing behind her, staring down hungrily at her bent body.
“Open your eyes,” he told her again. “I want you to see how much you want this.”
When she opened them again, she was confronted by her flushed, eager face. She had to stop rubbing her clit because she almost came from the sight.
“I told you not to stop.”
She gripped the dresser with both hands, trying desperately to hang on to control. “And I say that’s cheating, unless you’re going to touch yourself too.”
He smiled, as if he admired her response. “Fair enough.” His stared down at her body again. “Damn, your ass is the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. And you’re just dying for me to spank it, aren’t you?”
The most frustrating thing was he was right. She was so aroused that her juices were dripping down her inner thighs now, and her bottom kept pushing up toward him very slightly.
“You always did like a firm hand.” He reached out toward her, but held his hand still just over her butt. “Just ask me, and I will.”
She panted desperately, trying to resist. This man wasn’t just her lover. He was also her enemy. But it didn’t seem to matter at all. She heard herself gasping, “Please. Please, now.”
He gave her bottom a firm spank, and the pleasure uncoiled from the sharp impact.
“Again,” she cried, pushing her bottom up toward his hand.
He spanked her again, the smack loud in the room and the sensations stinging.
“Again.”
On the third spank, she came, all the pressure unleashing around nothing.
“Oh, fuck,” he muttered, as she shook and moaned. He dropped the towel and pulled aside her panties to slide himself inside her.
The penetration was thick and substantial in her already tight pussy, and she cried out loudly as the pleasure erupted again.
He fucked her through the orgasm, hard and fast and rough. And then he lifted her upper body, wrapping one arm around her, and they rocked together tightly as the angle of penetration shifted.
She watched as her face twisted with helpless pleasure, completely letting go of any restraint she’d intended to cling to.
“Oh, Blossom, you feel so good when you come for me,” he was murmuring against her ear. “Oh, fuck, nothing has ever felt as good as you.”
And her heart and her mind and her body all let loose, overwhelmed by him, unable to resist the power of his claim on her.
She couldn’t look away from his face behind hers in the mirror. His eyes were hot and possessive as they crawled over her body, and occasionally he would clench his jaw and suck in a wet breath through his teeth.
Kelly was breathing erratically too, but the deepest of her pleasure was already past. Her hair was all over the place, strands sticking to her back, her arms, and her warm, damp face. And she had the most overwhelming feeling of ownership as she watched and felt Caleb claim what he needed in her body.
“Yeah, Caleb,” she urged him huskily, her eyes never leaving his face in the mirror. “Yeah. You come too.”
He was beyond words now, just making primitive sounds of pleasure and dominance in rhythm with the slapping of his pelvis against her ass.
Then he suddenly bared his teeth and his whole body clenched like a fist.
And Kelly saw it—every detail. Saw the intense pleasure slam into him, saw it overwhelm the tension on his face with waves of release. Saw the way his nostrils flared and his neck arched back as his body thrust forward one last time.
She was whimpering in pleasure, both from the physical sensations and from the power of his climax.
When Caleb finally slid his softening cock out of her, Kelly felt warm, limp, and replete. But she had enough wit about her to slant him a teasing look and quip, “Well. I guess someone is feeling macho and caveman-like this evening. But I declare, just for the record, that you still cheated.”
He gave her a smug look of satisfaction. “I don’t think so.”
“I didn’t come until you touched me.”
“You would have. But you were begging me to touch you, and I’ve always had a soft heart.” The irony in his tone was obvious. Caleb Marshall had never been known for having a soft heart.
She couldn’t help but laugh, feeling warm and relaxed and deeply replete. “As good as that was, now I’m all messy to go to the party. And I’ll have to redo my hair and makeup.”
“You don’t need to redo your makeup.” He looked sated and slightly flushed, but otherwise in better shape than she was. He’d reached for the tuxedo he was going to wear this evening. “Or your hair.”
Drawing her brows together, Kelly peered at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were deeply pink, and her skin was a little too dewy. And her hair was a tousled mess, cascading all around her. “You have got to be kidding. I at least need to powder my face. And my hair—”
